Key features to look for in a performance management software

What is the secret to achieving greater organizational success? Robust Performance Management Software – the processes you put in place to measure and mainly reward the abilities of your workforce to meet and exceed the goals.

Improving the morale, increasing overall productivity and creating loyalty in your employees through performance management is the key to your organization outperforming the competition. An agile performance management software is at its best when it mainly establishes an exact pay for performance culture which in turn develops an employee engagement. We have witnessed in the last few years, that most of the companies count on a perfect performance management software to boost their productivity and improve the overall performance of the organization.

Some companies overlook the fact that effective performance management starts with cascading goals. It helps in providing feedback with the primary intention of helping employees improve performance; managers must also be able to gauge the performance against clear, measurable goals. The process for linking an organization’s compensation plan to an individual or team performance includes measuring, setting and rewarding achievable performance expectations.

For an HR software, it is always important to have the right kind of features. Below are few key features to look for in a performance management software:

Key features

Defining Goals

The significant step in performance management is setting the stage correctly – i.e., defining the individual goals and positioning them with the business plan. The process of setting goals should always be a collaborative process between a manager and the employees. Once the organization’s strategy is established, individual goals should be created that mainly support the “big picture.” The goals should be aligned made keeping “SMART” in mind.

Specific: Well defined to enlighten employees precisely what is expected, when and how much.

Attainable: Goals that can be achieved rather than something which is imaginary and out of track.

Relevant: The goals should mainly focus on the most significant impact on the essential overall corporate strategy.

Timely: The goal should be made within a time frame to create a sense of urgency for completion.

Monitoring progress on goals:

Managers need to be completely aware of their employee’s progress in their respective goals. This would help in timely support and assistance in terms of resources. In expanding to the need for managers to review the productivity of the employees, it is also essential for the employees to keep a track on their progress to attain their respective goals.

Having this information is helpful for the managers during the critical appraisal process to highlight on the track to attain goals and the respective success factor of each employee. You can use the opportunity to review the progress of the employees and adjust timelines request, additional resources etc primarily if necessary or even widen the goal statement in detail.

Continuous 2-Way Feedback:

The best performance management feature is the one that gives the managers the ability to have a short yet powerful pulse style check-ins with their teams. With a pulse tool, managers can ask mainly whether teams are experiencing any obstacles, providing coaching and appreciating the golden employees regularly. All of which are significant components of performance management. The team should also be able to comment on co-employees progress and performance. This would help the team to work hard and focus on their goals.

Appraisal process:

To get the best from their employees, the appraisal process should always include observing, listening, giving constructive feedback and recognition. Most of the performance management solutions include coaching tools to help the managers find just the right words to provide valuable report and analysis of the employee’s performance. The best part of the appraisal is providing continuous feedback to the employees. This will help them in improving & learning as well as being motivated to work and achieve greater results.This could prove to be a success factor not only for the employee’s growth but also can contribute to the health of the whole organization since employees have a greater sense of loyalty to organizations that develop talents from within.

Ease of Use:

A performance management software should be intuitive and easy to use. Keeping in mind that not only HR but other teams in an organization also uses the HR software. Moreover, the software should be easily accessible using any device.

Pay for Performance Compensation:

A successful pay for performance compensation strategy can prove to be a significant key to retain your top talent and drive the companies performance that exceeds all expectations. It is essential for an employee to meet or exceed expectations so that he or she will be rewarded for the hard work suitable through bonuses or rewards (flexible schedule or time off’s, recognition through awards.)

Darwinbox provides an excellent performance management system which is the key to create an aligned and goal driven workforce. Without having these above features, your company could lose more than just time and money.